I had the opportunity a couple of weeks ago to state that, due to a favorable astral conjunction, since 2018 Taranto has become the seat of the MEDIMEX (International Festival), venue also confirmed for 2025 from 17 to 21 June.
I would like to make a brief and personal reflection on this edition, which proved to be one of the most successful. All the events (seventy-five including showcases, meetings, talks, films, educational and live events) were a success in terms of turnout with extraordinary participation. The photographic exhibition on John Lennon at MArTa, with the iconic shots of the American photographer Bob Gruen present in Taranto, the national premiere screening of the wonderful film dedicated to Marc Bolan “AngelHeaded Hipster” enriched by the presence in the room of the director Ethan Silverman and Marc Urselli, sound engineer of the album of the same name that the film documents, were among the most evocative moments of this Medimex 2024.
A special applause to the live shows, probably the best line up ever, with the right choices by Cesare Veronico, the artistic coordinator of Puglia Sounds. The magnificent live shows of Thom Yorke’s SMILE and the duo Jesus And Mary Chain and PULP with an amazing Jarvis Cocker who had performed in Italy only on two other occasions (the last one even more than ten years ago), amazed me with the energy and beauty of their performances. Excellent also the video mapping focused this year on the theme of artificial intelligence, which despite not having a great “sentimental impact”, as in previous years, was technically of a unique suggestion.
The only inevitable sore point, I reserve for the usual eccentric, hot, bored and incompetent fellow citizens who, as usual, dispensed pearls of wisdom about the event, without being informed in the slightest about everything, as if the many fans coming from everywhere were not the best answer to their atavistic and sterile complaints…
I ask these people to let us dream for 5 days out of 365 and live an experience that projects Taranto to global attention as it happens in the great European capitals. See you in a year.
* text and photos by Franzi Baroni
